Lovely writing. As a Lancashire lass, with family who straddle the border with Yorkshire, I recognised the variety of Graces used by the older people. I suggest that your Eccles cake was a wrong'un however.
Loved this. (Full disclosure: I’m Lancastrian). I use ta’ra all the time (usually followed by luvvie). My relatives in Durham/Northumberland say it too so I think the word must be used across the north of England. The other words I’m not so familiar with. I moved to the south when I was 18, this article brought back memories of trudging along rivers on school hiking trips. It’s beautiful and wild up thurr on the pikes and dales and piers.
It’s the second article I’ve read on Vittles, and like the previous by Ruby Tandoh the outstanding quality of the writing made subscribing a no brained. As the wife of a Derbyshire lad and now living on the Yorkshire border the detail in the reported dialect makes me start thinking about how food is described ‘locally’. Excellent writing, thank you
Beautiful evocation of a place. The pinpoint -localised variations in dialect and tradition that exists in a place as physically small as England never cease to amaze me.
Thanks this is a bit of a mystery indeed but I agree that the fact that inability to eat is mentioned in more than one grace implies that it’s a physical inability. I really enjoyed the piece thank you 🙏
My grandmother was a baker from Lancashire but I grew up in the south. Unfortunately, my grandmother passed away when I was very young, way before she knew I would become a food writer/chef myself. What I'd do to be able to bake Eccles cakes with her...
Thanks for the beautiful words and for bringing me somewhat closer to understanding my roots x
Fabulous piece on food and graces. I’m a Lanky lass and if we asked questions, what’s that etc?, my uncles always answered layoes to catch medlars/meddlers. As we did harvest medlars for jellies and fruit brandy I was always intrigued what layoes were. Spelling as heard
Lovely writing. As a Lancashire lass, with family who straddle the border with Yorkshire, I recognised the variety of Graces used by the older people. I suggest that your Eccles cake was a wrong'un however.
Loved this. (Full disclosure: I’m Lancastrian). I use ta’ra all the time (usually followed by luvvie). My relatives in Durham/Northumberland say it too so I think the word must be used across the north of England. The other words I’m not so familiar with. I moved to the south when I was 18, this article brought back memories of trudging along rivers on school hiking trips. It’s beautiful and wild up thurr on the pikes and dales and piers.
It’s the second article I’ve read on Vittles, and like the previous by Ruby Tandoh the outstanding quality of the writing made subscribing a no brained. As the wife of a Derbyshire lad and now living on the Yorkshire border the detail in the reported dialect makes me start thinking about how food is described ‘locally’. Excellent writing, thank you
Beautiful evocation of a place. The pinpoint -localised variations in dialect and tradition that exists in a place as physically small as England never cease to amaze me.
Thanks this is a bit of a mystery indeed but I agree that the fact that inability to eat is mentioned in more than one grace implies that it’s a physical inability. I really enjoyed the piece thank you 🙏
What a glorious piece of food writing. I'd love to read more of Ophira's work.
My grandmother was a baker from Lancashire but I grew up in the south. Unfortunately, my grandmother passed away when I was very young, way before she knew I would become a food writer/chef myself. What I'd do to be able to bake Eccles cakes with her...
Thanks for the beautiful words and for bringing me somewhat closer to understanding my roots x
Fabulous piece on food and graces. I’m a Lanky lass and if we asked questions, what’s that etc?, my uncles always answered layoes to catch medlars/meddlers. As we did harvest medlars for jellies and fruit brandy I was always intrigued what layoes were. Spelling as heard
Oh thank you, I often wondered. But Preston in the 1950/60s had poems and dialect all its own I thought til now